Pebble Beach Systems to Showcase Virtualized Channel in a Box for the Public Cloud, 4K Playout, and Web-based Monitoring and Management Tool

Weybridge, UK and Broomfield, CO., USA, January 30th, 2017 – At NAB 2017, on booth SL 6320, Pebble Beach Systems, a leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, will be showcasing its latest range of solutions, including: 4K playout from the Dolphin integrated channel system; the deployment of multiple virtualized channels in both a public and a private cloud with Orca; and Lighthouse, a web-based remote management and monitoring tool for the Marina automation system.

Orca: Virtualized Channel in a Box for Public and Private Clouds

NAB attendees will be able to see a live deployment and hosting of multiple channels either in a private cloud or with Amazon Web Services (AWS), using Orca, Pebble's virtualized playout solution running under the Marina automation control system.

The ability to deploy new channels in a matter of minutes at low cost makes Pebble's public cloud solution particularly suited to pop-up, event-based channels, and to Disaster Recovery applications.

With Orca, centralcast hubs, service providers, MCOs (Multiple Channel Operators), sports broadcasters, and corporates have the ability to create new IP channels from a series of templates at the touch of a button, and to deploy them quickly into a running system without having to restart or make configuration changes. Fully automated channels, using the same Marina infrastructure as on-premises systems, can be launched and running at the click of a button, with little additional training of staff required.

For Disaster Recovery applications, Orca offers a cost effective and efficient solution that can be dynamically deployed only when needed. This saves considerable costs since cloud services are typically only charged when operational. Orca’s new metering tools show an hour by hour utilization of channel resources, and storage can contain backup material to be run during an emergency, while mirrored show content for the day can be quickly uploaded in minutes. With content uploaded, the DR feed is a perfect mirror of the original broadcast.

Lighthouse Remote Monitoring and Management for Marina Automation, now with new Channel Design and Deployment Tools

Lighthouse is a web-based remote management and monitoring dashboard for the Marina automation environment that extends Marina’s functionality to business users, operational staff and engineers both inside and outside the broadcast facility. It offers control, monitoring, media management, and system conﬁguration tools via an array of widgets on conﬁgurable web-based dashboards, with the ability to aggregate data across multiple sites.

Modern playout workflows require agile, responsive methods of interaction at any time of day or night. Lighthouse extends the reach of staff with standard browser interfaces so that status and corrective actions are just seconds away, even outside the control room. For users with control privileges, accessing and controlling a channel from any location with Lighthouse makes unattended operation safe, and worry-free for senior staff.

As Pebble’s product portfolio expands into the virtual world, Lighthouse offers a series of interfaces which deliver conﬁguration and deployment functionality for Orca virtual channels. Using the new design and deployment tools, Lighthouse users can design, edit, launch and decommission virtual IP channels on the fly.

4K Dolphin

Dolphin delivers highly automated integrated audio, video and graphics functionality for ingest, channel branding and frame-accurate multi-channel playout. Dolphin bridges the SDI/IP worlds and can work in either compressed or uncompressed environments being SMPTE2022-6/7 compliant. Its software-defined architecture allows it to easily scale to the needs of any playout workflow either as a stand-alone, all-in-one system, or a hybrid system installed alongside third party channel delivery products.

With new added I/O support for either IP or SDI, Dolphin helps organizations evolve their playout from HD to 4K when required without a forklift upgrade. 4K output is presented as H.264/H.265 SPTS (single program transport stream) over IP or Quad SDI. For input, 4K file-based media can be encoded with H.264, ProRes, XAVC, or AVC-Ultra. The Dolphin system supports automatic SD/HD up-conversion to 4K when mixed content is present.

Pebble Beach Systems, a leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, has been instrumental in helping The Digital Media Centre (DMC) become one of the first television network operations centers in the world to successfully embrace virtualized playout from the cloud.